I glanced down at myself. I was cocooned in the entire comforter. Bones only had a few scrapsof the blanket as he’d spooned around me. Guess he wasn’t exaggerating.I unwrapped myself and threw half the blanket over him, shivering as his chilled flesh touchedmy bare skin. “You undressed me while I was asleep? You didn’t take advantage, did you?”“No, I took precautions,” he replied, searching my eyes. It was then that I noticed he was sotense, a single blow might have shattered him. “I stripped you and hid your clothes so if you wokeup angry about what happened, you wouldn’t be able to run out without talking to me first.”

“Oh.” Timmie gave Bones a shy peek. “Are you Cathy’s brother?”“Whatever would give you the idea that I’m her damn brother?” Bones snapped.Timmie backed up so fast, he hit the back of his head against his doorframe. “Sorry!” he gasped, and banged into the door again before managing to scramble back inside.I marched over to Bones and stuck my finger in his chest. He regarded me with what I would have called sullenness-if he hadn’t been over two hundred.“You have a choice,” I said, biting off each word. “Either you make a very sincere apology to Timmie now, or you leave and slither back to your cave like the festering ball sack you just acted like. I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but he’s a nice guy, and you probably just made him pee his pants. Your decision, Bones. One or the other.”A dark brow arched at me. I tapped my foot. “One…two…”He muttered something foul and then climbed the stairs, rapping twice on Timmie’s door.“Right, then, mate, terribly sorry for my unspeakable rudeness, and I do beg your pardon,” he said with admirable humbleness when Timmie cracked it open. Only I could pick up the slight edge to his voice as he went on. “I can only say that it was caused by my natural affront to the notion of her as my sister. Since I’ll be shagging her tonight, you can imagine how I’d be distressed at the thought of rogering my sibling.”“You schmuck!” I burst as Timmie’s jaw dropped. “The only thing you’ll be shagging tonightis yourself!”“You wanted sincerity,” he countered. “Well, luv, I was sincere.”“You can get right back in the car and I’ll see you later, if you’re not being such an ass!”

Bones sat next to me on the couch, Spade took the empty space by him (raising my opinion of him), and that left Francesca to slink into the chair opposite us. My feeling of superiority was short-lived, however, when she settled herself down and then crossed her legs.I didn’t need a mirror to know my whole face had just turned red. With a hemline up to herthighs, that gesture didn’t leave anything to the imagination. Bones curled his fingers around mine and squeezed. His hand was still warmed from our contact moments ago. That’s how fast he had to grab me again to keep me sitting where I was instead of yanking off my jacket to make her a pair of panties.[...]You go, boy! I silently applauded him. Cut right to the point and show her a little snatch doesn’t distract you! You are SO getting lucky tonight.Francesca’s mouth curled. “Why else would I be here, if I didn’t want you to kill him? If youwere to do less, I wouldn’t risk it. You know I’ve hated him for the past ninety-three years. Ever since he took me from my convent and turned me.”“You were a nun?” I asked in disbelief, actually peeping back up her dress to make sure Ihadn’t misunderstood. “You’re kidding.”

I gave an amused grunt. “Wow, a big wedding. We’ll have a hell of a time explaining the menu to a potential caterer. Choice of entrée: beef or seafood for the humans, raw meat and body parts for the ghouls…and a keg of hot fresh blood at the bar for the ampires. God, I can just picture my mother’s face.”Bones’s smile turned devilish and he leapt up. I watched him, curious, as he went to the ther side of the room and dialed his cell phone.“Justina.”I vaulted after him as soon as I heard my mother’s name. Bones sprinted away from me, fighting back his laughter and continuing to speak.“Yes, it’s Bones. Now really, that’s such a foul name to call me…um hmm, same to you, I’m sure…”“Give me that phone,” I demanded.He ignored me, darting out of my reach. Ever since my father, my mother hated vampires with a pathological passion. She’d even tried to have Bones killed before—twice—which was why he was taking such delight in giving her a little payback now.“Actually, Justina, I didn’t just ring you to chat about what an undead murderer I was…right, degenerate whore as well. Did I ever tell you my mum was one? No? Oh, blimey, I come from a long line of whores, in fact…”I sucked in a breath as Bones divulged yet another tidbit about his past to my mother, who must be frothing at the mouth by now.“…called to give you the good news. I asked your daughter to marry me and she accepted. Congratulations, I will officially be your son-in22 law. Now, do you want me to call you Mum straightaway, or wait until after the wedding?”I flew through the air in a dive that finally tackled him, wrenching the phone away. Bones was laughing so hard, he had to breathe to get it all out.“Mom? Are you there? Mom…?”“You might want to give her a moment, Kitten. I believe she fainted.”

At graves End schrieb:Bones darted out of the car without even turning the engine off andpounded on the door hard enough to rattle the windows.“Open up, Justina, or I’ll break down this door!”The front door flung open as I approached at a slower rate than Bones had. Someone had to turn the car off, after all.Bones went right past my mother, ignoring her demands to stay out. He gave her a wicked rake of the eyes, and his lips twitched uncontrollably.“Well. As I don’t live and breathe. Justina, hair’s a bit disheveled, luv, been cleaning house? No? And your face…if I didn’t know better, I’d say it was flushed. Back when I was a degenerate whore, as you like to say, I’d see women look like you do all the time. After they were shagging.”My mouth dropped and I took in her appearance. She was wearing only a robe, her brown hair was indeed going every which way, her face was distinctly colored, and holy shit, was that a hickey on her neck?“You filthy animal, get out of here,” she commanded Bones.He laughed so hard it bent him double. “Really, that’s a bit of the pot calling the kettle black now, isn’t it? And to think how Kitten used to be terrified about you finding out she was shagging a vampire. You can’t say much about that anymore, can you? Come on down, mate, take a bow! I stand in abject awe.”“Bones,” Rodney’s voice called out gratingly from upstairs. “Just get out of here.”I staggered. “Mom? You and Rodney?”A scarlet blush graced my mother’s features. “He was making me dinner,” she sputtered.I found my voice amid the astonishment. “And dessert, too, apparently! I don’t believe you. All those years, you crucified me for sleeping with a vampire, and look at you. Rodney’s a ghoul, you hypocrite!”“He doesn’t kill people, they’re dead when he gets to them!” shethundered back with questionable logic. “And I am forty-five years oldand don’t need to be explaining myself to my daughter.”I stared at her like I’d never seen her before. “Did Rodney likethem?” I asked.She huffed. “Did he like what, Catherine?”“The balls on you, that’s what!”Bones laughed again and wiped his eyes with his sleeve. “Let’s go, Kitten. Just had to rub it in, I couldn’t resist. Justina, good on you, and Rodney”—another decadent chuckle—“admirable courage.”Bones propelled me, still bitching, from the house. The door slammed behind us.Bones still couldn’t contain his laughter as we drove away at safer speeds. “I’m delighted you didn’t ring her in advance, luv. That was priceless.”I didn’t answer, just settled back in my chair and broke the seal on the gin.